ALBION – Two Dawson County team made the long trip to Northeast Nebraska for the Boone Central Invite.

 Cozad, coming off a seventh-place finish at the Higgins Invite, shined greatly over the weekend, placing seven wrestlers, including six in the top four, while taking fourth overall.

 Henry Espinoza of Lexington took home sixth place at 103 pounds, after a 1-3 showing. Espinoza dropped his first match, losing to Daniel Dominguez of O’Neill by pin at :39 seconds.

 At 112 pounds, Logan Hunke of Cozad was the first Haymaker to medal, as Hunke grabbed a silver medal. Mauricio Calmo of Lexington went 0-2 on the day and failed to medal.

 Hunke defeated Steven Thies of High Plains by a 13-11 decision in the semi-final to face off with Asa Standsbury of Kearney High. Standsbury defeated Hunke at the Higgins the previous week. Standsbury got the best of Hunke, pinning the Haymaker in the second period to take home the gold. Hunke’s record improves to 26-8 heading into the conference tournament.

 A new arrival made his debut at 119 pounds this weekend, as Issa Issa of Lexington took the mat. Issa drew a tough test in his first round match, facing off with eventual champion Andrew Smith. Smith pinned Issa at 1:09 in the first period. Issa lost his consolation match to Daneil Thies of High Plains by a 6-0 decision.

 Caleb Lucero of Cozad was all alone this week at 125, as he took home fourth place for the Haymakers. Lucero won his first two matches, a pin of Mitch Patzel of Boone Central and a 25-11 major decision of Noah Keyes of Platteview. Lucero lost to second place finisher Scott Kester of O’Neill by pin in the first period to move directly in to the medal round. Lucero defeated Nathan Styskal of David City to move to the third place match. Lucero lost a heart-breaker to Ricky Avila of Madison 6-5, to take home fourth.

 One of the big surprises of the meet was Cozad’s Colton Derr at 130 pounds. Derr was one of the two Haymaker champions over the weekend, as the sophomore upset Levi Pofahl of Neligh-Oakdale, pinning Pofahl in the third period. This is Derr’s first gold medal of the season, as the sophomore moves to 24-9 on the season.

 Kyle Carlson was looking for redemption after his sixth place finish at the Higgins the weekend before, and redemption he got, taking home another silver medal this season. Carlson manhandled Nick Tonniges of York in his opening round match by a 13-0 decision, then pinned Taylor Smith of Neligh-Oakdale in :40 seconds to set up a epic rematch with Kearney High’s Noah Gable. Carlson previously got the best of Gable at the Higgins in overtime.  Gable learned from his mistakes at the Higgins, as he got the best of Carlson, winning by a 11-4 decision. Carlson, moves to 26-11 on the season.

 Lexington’s Manuel Dominguez went 0-2 on the day, including an opening round loss to Gable. Dominguez falls to 5-14 on the year.

 The 140-pound bracket saw its fair share of competitors this weekend, as Lexington’s Rolando Gonzalez and Cozad’s Derrick Kvasnicka took to the mat.

 Gonzalez and Kvasnicka won their opening matches, however Kvasnicka lost by technical fall to Kyle Ruh of Madison. Gonzalez narrowly escaped both of his matches to reach the finals to take on Ruh. Kvasnicka rebounded nicely from the loss to Ruh by pinning both of his opponents before losing to Steven Varela of David City. Kvasnicka lost to Sam Gillham of O’Neill due to forfeit to take sixth for Cozad. Gonzalez couldn’t escape Ruh, as the Minuteman was downed by a 21-8 decision. Gonzalez moves to 15-8 on the season, while Kvasnicka improves to 7-9.

 Bill Reynoso of Lexington was seeing his first piece of action since being injured a couple of weeks ago. Reynoso finished sixth overall at 145 pounds, after having to forfeit due to his match limit. Reynoso won his opening match over Suzy Garcia of York, before losing to Jake Smutny of Madison. Reynoso then won his next two matches before losing to Isaac Roth of Platteview 9-8 to wrestle in the fifth-place match. Reynoso was unable to wrestle due to a match limit, therefore giving him sixth place.

 Lexington’s Jesus Guerrero went 1-2 on the day at 152 pounds, but was unable to medal overall over the weekend. Also, Lucas Burch was 0-2 for the Minutemen, failing to place as well.

 Joe Walker was the next up at 171 pounds, as he won his first match over Clint Baldwin of Platteview by a 12-6 decision. Walker then had to face Jensen Foss of Kearney, who pinned Walker in :54 seconds. Foss eventually won the bracket. Walker lost his consolation match to Alberto Marcial of Madison to end his day at 1-2 overall.

 At 189 pounds, Tanner Sturgeon looked to continue his winning way, but almost saw his undefeated season come to an end. The senior opened his day up with an impressive second period pin of Jonathan Alvilez of Lexington. In the semi-finals, Sturgeon pinned Preston Smith of O’Neill in third period, setting up a championship match with Lucas Kastl of David City. Kastl entered the match at 34-1, with his only loss coming to Sturgeon at the Team Dual Championships in Columbus. Kastl was sent packing with his second loss to Sturgeon, as the Haymaker took home the championship with a 4-2 decision. Sturgeon remains undefeated at 30-0 and ranked number one in Class B.

 Alvilez finished 1-2 on the day, with his lone win coming in the first round of wrestle-backs, pinning Chism Sholes of O’Neill in the second period. Alvilez is 1-4 on the season.

The Heavyweight bracket turned out to be very interesting, as Pedro Garcia and Alex Munoz decided their fate by facing off with one another in the quarter-final match. Garcia got the best of Munoz, winning by pin at 3:03, to move on to face Kearney’s Joe Allen. Allen, coming off a runner-up finish at the Higgins, barely squeaked by Garcia, winning by a 6-4 decision. Allen wound up winning the bracket. Garcia moved through the bracket and ended up taking third overall, defeating Stephan Johnson of Pierce by fall at 2:02. Munoz took fifth after winning three matches in the consolation bracket, including a forfeit win over Matt Maloun of O’Neill in the fifth-place match.

 Cozad took fourth with 133 total team points, while Kearney looks to be one of the dominant teams in their class heading into conference, taking eight gold medals, and racking up 290 total team points. Lexington finished 11^th overall with 53 points.

 “We need more consistency in order to do well,” Head coach Ken VerMaas Jr. said. “We have already wrestled 29 different kids on varsity. We are trying to get everyone back into the lineup at full strength and get more matches under their belts.”

• Cozad Haymakers
• Cozad Wrestling
• Lexington Minutemen
• Lexington Wrestling

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